By:
Sudhir Venkatesh
This book is not something I would typically read. I tend to avoid non fiction like the plague when I can. That being said, this book was fairly intriguing. It offended me at some level at the sheer lack of professionalism on Sudhir's part, at the same time it made me glad that there still existed people who weren't so narrow minded as to just ignore someone different from themselves and to actually be willing to build a relationship and allow them into ones culture.
While I found myself agreeing with Sudhir initially about the silliness of asking students to study a group of people or a culture in a lab setting, I found myself appalled by his solution to the silly idea. Yes going out and immersing yourself in a culture you wish to study is a fantastic idea. Yes, if you get accepted into it as one of their own its even better. It is still highly important to set boundaries, to know when to call it quits and maintain some sort of objectivity (objectivity being something Sudhir never seemed to have).
It was great to see his willingness to write about a group that was being persecuted and needed help. To bring forth the corruption and prejudice of the times in question is a brave thing. To do it decades after its happened is not brave, but potentially even cowardly. He helped, he certainly did, however he did not live up to his position. His willingness to help those affected by gangs and the drug trade is commendable. His willingness to help a group of people who blatantly break the law is unacceptable to me. At the end of it all to just walk away, crank out a thesis and them later a book? That is just plain callous.
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